Sourdough Starter-ers

[Pau Hana Reefer]

As if my reef tank wasn't enough work, I decided I needed another challenge while stuck inside these last two months. So dove into trying my hands at a sourdough starter.

"Hey Pau Hana Reefer, you know there are sourdough forums for this kinda talk, right?"

Yes, but I figured there has to be some reefers who also have a sourdough starter. I mean, there are a number of similarities when compared to reefing... sourdough starters need to be fed, needs to be observed, requires patience, requires cleaning, and sometimes, your sourdough starter will just crash and burn.

I got my reef tank started on my first try and it has been running for 1.5 years. I'm now on my third attempt over the past month in starting a sourdough starter.

 

[swiss1939]

Filtered water a must. Just like your reef

 

[Dr Jimmy]

Sourdough is pretty easy. I have started a "mother" a few times (mostly as I go through bread phases). Where do you seem to be having difficulty?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Filtered water a must. Just like your reef

So I know you're not supposed to drink RODI water. Can you use RODI water for a starter? I started boiling my water and letting it sit overnight (my area has chlorine and chloramines in our water)

 

[swiss1939]

Just use a britta filter

 

[Dr Jimmy]

You can definitely use RODI for the culture. If you're worried about it, and can use RO... do that. Do you want to walk through your procedure?

What I've done to start from scratch:
RODI water + Flour... usually 1:1 IIRC. I do it by look not by measurement. Give that a place out of the sun and covered for 2-4 days, then add some more flour and water... that starts the process. You're looking for little bubbles. I also use a good flour like King Arthur.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Sourdough is pretty easy. I have started a "mother" a few times (mostly as I go through bread phases). Where do you seem to be having difficulty?

So first starter (The Guy On The Couch), which was 5 days in and I think would've been ready with a few more days... was cooked in the oven. I forgot to put the post-it up and my wife pre-heated the oven.

Second starter (The Guy In the Jar) was thrown in the trash on Tuesday. It started developing a rotten egg smell that kept returning. It would go away after being fed, but would always return. I think some bad bacteria got in there and took over. Plus, it stalled out. It would only rise about 50% in height and would not go anywhere.

I just started my third attempt a few days ago and this one (Branifer) seems to be doing better.

I'm carrying over 75g, then adding 50g unbleached all purpose flour, 50g whole wheat flour, 115g water (perfectloaf.com recipe). The Guy in the Jar was fed with 100g of all purpose flour since I didn't have whole wheat flour at the time.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

You can definitely use RODI for the culture. If you're worried about it, and can use RO... do that. Do you want to walk through your procedure?

What I've done to start from scratch:
RODI water + Flour... usually 1:1 IIRC. I do it by look not by measurement. Give that a place out of the sun and covered for 2-4 days, then add some more flour and water... that starts the process. You're looking for little bubbles. I also use a good flour like King Arthur.

I'm using these two pages as reference. Primarily following perfectoaf.com.
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe

 

[swiss1939]

It smells when working. That's why they call it sourdough

 

[Dr Jimmy]

So first starter (The Guy On The Couch), which was 5 days in and I think would've been ready with a few more days... was cooked in the oven. I forgot to put the post-it up and my wife pre-heated the oven.

Second starter (The Guy In the Jar) was thrown in the trash on Tuesday. It started developing a rotten egg smell that kept returning. It would go away after being fed, but would always return. I think some bad bacteria got in there and took over. Plus, it stalled out. It would only rise about 50% in height and would not go anywhere.

I just started my third attempt a few days ago and this one (Branifer) seems to be doing better.

I'm carrying over 75g, then adding 50g unbleached all purpose flour, 50g whole wheat flour, 115g water (perfectloaf.com recipe). The Guy in the Jar was fed with 100g of all purpose flour since I didn't have whole wheat flour at the time.

The amount of time you let it grow is pretty important. "bad bacteria" getting in there can and likely is occurring early. As the culture develops, it produces an environment that reduces the ability of the bad bacteria to live. That doesn't mean your culture couldn't ever go bad, but it definitely takes time to develop. And there should be a sweet/vinegary smell to the culture. If I let it go a little long, there will be a "supernatant" and a pretty pungent smell. That just means I went too long. If you do daily feedings, that shouldn't happen.

 

[swiss1939]

https://www.ilovecooking.ie/features/sourdough-bread-masterclass-with-patrick-ryan/

 

[swiss1939]

For me being accurate by weight was important. Without a scale it was too watery and bacteria didn't have enough food.

Get it sorted out with clean water and right mixture. Then all you have to know is if it starts getting a layer of water on the surface than means you need to feed it. Water is the byproduct of bacteria running out of food

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

The amount of time you let it grow is pretty important. "bad bacteria" getting in there can and likely is occurring early. As the culture develops, it produces an environment that reduces the ability of the bad bacteria to live. That doesn't mean your culture couldn't ever go bad, but it definitely takes time to develop. And there should be a sweet/vinegary smell to the culture. If I let it go a little long, there will be a "supernatant" and a pretty pungent smell. That just means I went too long. If you do daily feedings, that shouldn't happen.

So I think my second starter failed due to my oven being too warm. I left my second starter in my oven with the light on most of the time. Multiple times, I thought my oven was getting too warm, but didn't do anything. I finally decided to measure the temp and found it to be at 93 degrees after 8 hours w/ the light on.

So I suspect that perhaps the temp was too warm for yeast to flourish but a good temp for bad bacteria to flourish (causing the rotten egg smell).

 

[Dr Jimmy]

Some other examples. I feel like I'm better at sourdough (and yeast-based baking) than I am at reefing, sadly

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

For me being accurate by weight was important. Without a scale it was too watery and bacteria didn't have enough food

Agree 100%. Mine was also too water the few days after doing some homework, I read others saying a scale is a must.

 

[Dr Jimmy]

So I think my second starter failed due to my oven being too warm. I left my second starter in my oven with the light on most of the time. Multiple times, I thought my oven was getting too warm, but didn't do anything. I finally decided to measure the temp and found it to be at 93 degrees after 8 hours w/ the light on.

So I suspect that perhaps the temp was too warm for yeast to flourish but a good temp for bad bacteria to flourish (causing the rotten egg smell).

You do not need to put it in the oven. You leave it on the counter. Don't put it in a drafty place, but you don't want it "warm". The yeast and bacteria that you want growing in there do just fine at room temperature.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Some other examples. I feel like I'm better at sourdough (and yeast-based baking) than I am at reefing, sadly

lol. you should trade your sourdough knowledge for reefing knowledge. your pics are making me hungry!

 

[swiss1939]

Also you can just leave it on counter it's not going to cook as easily. Just takes a few more days for the bac to eat through all the food. So it takes longer for the bubbles and rise. My apartment is 60s temp and instead of every day, i did every other day feeding after the third day to give it more time due to cooler temps. By day 10 it was ready to go.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

You do not need to put it in the oven. You leave it on the counter. Don't put it in a drafty place, but you don't want it "warm". The yeast and bacteria that you want growing in there do just fine at room temperature.

Noted. Thanks Dr. Jimmy. Branifer has not gone in the oven and I don't plan on it after the last one. Though we're still in the 60s where I live, it's going to start warming up into the 70s and 80s next week, which I've been told is great bread-making temps.

 

[swiss1939]

When feeding it you want it to be a thick batter consistency if you aren't going to use a scale.